Monday, October 10, 2016

Review: The Player by Claire Contreras

I'm naturally gifted on the field and between the sheets. With flashy cars and enough media attention to put the Royal Family to shame, I’m the definition of Most Eligible Bachelor.

Every man wants to be me and every woman wants to tame me. Until Camila.

The moment I lay eyes on her, I know I have to have her.

She wants to keep me at arm's length.

I want her naked in my bed.

She thinks our worlds are too different.

All I want her to think about is screaming my name.

She says I’m bad news.

I have three weeks to prove her wrong.

4 starsReview by Lisa Kane

Camila Avila is about to have her life turned upside down again. The building where she lives in Washington Heights in Brooklyn is owned by the Belmonte Investments. They want to tear it down and most of the surrounding buildings, replace them with newer, modern ones and get rid of the current tenants. They are giving them one month’s notice. Camila has good reason to hate Belmonte, particularly Javier Belmonte.

I’d been stumbling through life since I was sixteen, trying to find my footing and failing at every turn. Not much had changed. The only thing I could say had possibly changed was my defiance-my need to do things for myself-and I had my neighborhood to thank for that.

There is a meeting of the tenants with the investment group and Camila meets one of the owners, Thomas Belmonte and Warren Silver, the majority shareholder for the project. Turns out Warren is the European soccer star. Apparently he’s a big deal and his game whether he’s playing soccer or scoring with the ladies. Fans raise their voices and yell for War Zone at every game. But Camila doesn’t follow soccer and has no idea she should be in awe of this god.

All my life I’d been surrounded by bullshitting men. The ones who drive a hard bargain to get you in their bed and then fuck it all up once they have you there.

Warren spots this little spitfire right away and is determined to get to know her better (preferably between the sheets) but Camila has every reason to distrust him. Since meeting him she keeps hearing about his manwhore reputation and why would she trust anyone who is planning on taking her home away from her? But up to now Warren’s life has been soccer, it is the be all and end all for him and he isn’t quite sure how to change that or if he even wants to change it.

“I forgot you were up there.”

“You…” I started, but took a moment to swallow and regroup. “You forgot I was there?”

Player is told in dual POV’s so we get insight into both Camila and Warren’s thoughts. Warren may be a player who’s playing days are numbered when he sets his sights on Camila, but he has secrets. Ones that will hurt Camila and he is determined nothing will take her away from him. Camila is equally determined to protect her heart.

“Do you remember the first thing you told me before I finally agreed to go out with you?” He stayed quiet, so I continued. “You said you’d never lie to me.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, closing his eyes briefly.

This one has scheming ex’s, deep years old secrets, steam, lust, passion-the whole kit and caboodle. There are a couple of real moments of angst, guaranteed to give you the stomach plummets. (my favorite part of a story!)

“How many threesomes have you had?”

“Enough.”

There are several interesting secondary characters in this book, I wouldn’t mind reading more about them.